Does Play Dice is a game about story-telling. Think of it as group improv with a little chaos added to the mix with the introduction of the dice. Each player needs pencil, paper, and a set of 5 dice, one each with the following number of sides: 4, 6, 8, 12, and 20.
1. You can play with any number of people, but the ideal group is between 5 and 7 players. Most of the players will create a Character and come together to form a Party. As a Party, they'll work together towards a common goal.
2. The exception: one player is the Narrator. The Narrator creates the overall story along with the challenges the Party will face. The Narrator also calls for Skill Checks as needed to determine an Outcome.
3. First, you want to create the overall story for the Party. It might be a Hollywood movie-style heist, a murder mystery dinner party, or a fantasy-based dungeon crawl with wizards, dragons, and mounds of treasure. There are resources and inspiration and world-building guides for you everywhere, but you can also simply download a module, game, or setting that someone else has created. Eventually, we'll post some here.
4. Provide the important details your players need to create their Characters. They need to know if they're creating a highly skilled criminal, a guest at a fancy dinner party, or a dungeon delver. They need to know the time period, the level of technology that's available, and other basic details of the setting you've created for them. Last, they need to know which dice to choose from for their Skills. Of the 5 dice in a set, choose 3, keeping in mind that smaller dice represent less experience, while larger dice represent more. (When making a Skill Check, the highest roll wins.)
5. For each Character, decide who you are and your place in the world. If you like, you can collaborate with other players to create Characters with shared backgrounds or experiences, but everyone will work within the guidelines provided by your Narrator.
6. Write down all of the details about your Character that matter: name, background, school or job, habits, quirks ... anything that makes you you.
7. Last, assign one die of the three chosen by the Narrator to each of your Skills: Physical, Mental, and Social. We'll see how they're used below. For now, just know that higher numbers are better.
| Core Ability | Sample skill checks |
|---|---|
| Physical | Strength, senses, fine motor skills, stamina |
| Mental | Knowledge, memory, reasoning, aptitude |
| Social | Intuition, influence, charisma, empathy |
8. Ok, let's play! The Narrator will describe what's around you. If you have questions, ask. Talk to your Party. Talk to the people around you. (Anyone your Narrator describes that isn't in your Party.) When you want to do something, describe it to the Narrator. If what you want to do is easy ("I open the door"), the Narrator will describe what happens next. ("You open the door and find an office filled with dusty books.") But what if you want to do something that isn't easy? What if the door is locked? This is the core mechanic of the game that makes it different from other forms of story-telling or improv by introducing an element of chance: we roll for it!
9. What the Character rolls depends on how they choose to approach the challenge. You might try force open a locked door, a Physical challenge. Or you can search the area around the door for a hidden key or a secret latch. Searching is a Mental challenge. Alternatively, if there's a particularly smooth talker in the Party, they might have learned about a secret knock from one of the guards. Learning that valuable tidbit would most likely involve a Social Challenge. Whichever you choose, when the Narrator calls for a Skill Check, you'll roll the die that you assigned to the applicable Skill: Physical, Mental, or Social.
10. The Narrator rolls against you. They decide how difficult the challenge you're attempting is and roll the corresponding die according to the table below. Let's assume you're attempting to shoulder check the door and the Narrator knows the door is pretty thick and the lock sturdy. Despite what we see in the movies, knocking down a door isn't an easy thing to do, so the Narrator decides in this case that it's a Highly Difficult challenge, or a d12.
| Die | Abbreviated | Difficulty of Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| 4-sided | d4 | Easy |
| 6-sided | d6 | Moderate |
| 8-sided | d8 | Challenging |
| 12-sided | d12 | High difficulty |
| 20-sided | d20 | "Impossible" |
11. Now, both of you roll. The Character rolls the die assigned to the Skill; let's assume that's a d6. The Narrator rolls the die corresponding to the Difficulty, which we determined above is a d12. Highest roll wins, and the Outcome will reflect that. If the Player has the higher roll, perhaps they force open the door in one attempt and catch whoever is on the other side by surprise. If the Narrator rolls higher, however, the door doesn't budge (not immediately), and anyone on the other side is now alerted to the Party's presence. And what if it's a tie? In that case, both sides should get something out of it. Maybe the Character knocks down the door, surprising everyone inside, but they injure their shoulder in the process and suffer some minor or temporary setback as a result.
The Narrator may set up a winning condition: completing the heist, solving the murder, or slaying the dragon. But also keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to tell a story, and the best and most memorable stories don't always result in a win!